Planet M.U.L.E.

What if all 8 aliens are in the pub and can be hired per round?
Bonzoid can install mining mules, spheroid can assay, legitte is fast, mechtron needs no food...

Before the round starts, each player places bids on 5 aliens... highest bid wins... tie resolves in lower ranking player wins...

Its a mechanic that has roles like in puerto rico and bidding on them is like planet steam... it could be selfbalancing mechanism, so each alien could have a real difference instead of just some minor factor... a real game mechanism.

Any more ideas?

I thought in the original game that each race had a special ability... but they don't seem to have been implemented here.  I think in tournament play, you should be able to use the "special ability" when you have an excess of energy, to a maximum of 1/2 your turn.  That could be useful.
-S

I think the idea of buying an alien is a little off-putting, but that can be made more palatable by "hiring" instead of buying.  But also, are you then buying a MULE and then a worker to use it?  Or do you mean hire an alien INSTEAD of a MULE.  If so, I don't see much difference.  Maybe I'm just not understanding.

I like the idea of Leggites having the advantage in getting land, Flappers start with a little more money, Packers having the advantage in growing food, etc.  It adds another level of strategy.  Or maybe each species gets ONE CHANCE to use the ability.  For example, the Packer can activate his "skill" at the beginning of one particular turn, guaranteeing a bumper crop that month, in which he thinks it'll do the most good for him.  The Flapper can basically use his skill like a one-time ATM when he feels like he needs the cash, etc.

This actually appeared in the Planet Steam board game as a set of townspeople with different jobs. The very first thing that occurs in a game round is players bid for the right to pick the character of their choice (not for characters in particular, mind you...there's some psychological games being played here).

• Lady Steam breaks ties and gets to take her actions first during each phase, and choose the order in which goods are traded (imagine doing Food, then Energy, then Smithore, then Crystite, so opponents won't have cash to buy their essentials!)
• The Venturer picks the location of the Land Auction, and only has to pay half his bid if he wins.
• The Fireman chooses a single column in which all production is improved by 1.
• The Engineer can get a free "license" to claim a restricted plot, or take $15.
• The IPF Agent gets a free unit of resource of his choice, or can freely upgrade the storage capacity of one of his resources (think of raising the Smithore/Crystite cap, or improving the spoilage ratio of Food/Energy.
• The Saboteur picks one plot on the board that will neither produce, nor have its "MULE" converted, nor be counted for EOS bonuses, but its owner would get a slight compensation in cash. (Doubtful we'd want this...it sounds like a "gun and bomb" situation, but perhaps its potency is limited?)
• The Manipulator can hack the Store: he can either adjust the price of one good considerably, or adjust several goods a small amount.

yes, you hire an alien each round.
As zack suggested, maybe not bid on an actual alien, but the order to choose one.

Or maybe make those in demand even more expensive , or reverse:
Add $100 to any alien not chosen as in Puerto Rico.

As for the abilities:

What does each alien have for a bonus or even unique advantage that fits their initial description?
Throw in some cosmic encounter...

Damn you, Clemens. Why did you have to invoke my favorite game of all time? Now I have to think about this.  ;D

(work in progress, running errands)

• Bonzoid: No movement penalties in rough terrain (mountains, valley). +1 production in mountain plots.
• Gollumer: Only pays 2/3 of what is bid in Land Auctions. Gets an early start in other Auctions (might be too much, I think)
• Packer: Food plots +1 production. Spoilage this turn is 1:3 instead of 1:2
• Spheroid: An additional unit of EOS bonus is applied if there are diagonally-adjacent plots producing the same good.
• Mechtron: Consumes Energy instead of Food for time-bar. Energy plots +1 production.
• Humanoid: Random variation of plot production is always positive, never negative.
• Flapper: Cash amounts from positive player events, Wampus, and Pub are increased.
• Leggite: Faster overall movement during development.

Question: Why was this posted here and not in the public gameplay ideas forum?  I am still confused as to the difference between the two.

I'm going to have to think about this!   ;D

Overall I love Puerto Rico's roles (I also like that roles that are not chosen, get bonuses so they become more attractive over time).

Because it does not tie players to any specific alien race it will make it easier to balance them.  Might be a very cool way to incorporate all the alien races into the game.

It does take away a little bit of "choosing your avatar" and then from that moment on "that is who you are" which is my only concern, though I think it's a minor one.  Player colors would become even more important as I'm imagining that for any given turn your avatar would change based on role chosen.

@zach: great list!
What if  the abilities are even more powerful, like bonzoid the only one who can install smithore mules?
Or spheroid love round crystals, so only he can assay? Just thinking of jadakars approach to first think of a grande change and pedal back if too much than to make something new, time consuming that does not have enough impact to justify the mechanism.

@jadakar:  thats a valid concern: who does the player think he is? Is the immersion still enough to draw the player into the game? In puerto rico you are only hiring or using the services of each role, so you are some sort of capitalist, but since you are clearly not a humanoid it begs the question who is bidding on the aliens each round?

I could have posted this also in public forum, maybe we brainstorm here first and if we feel we need more ideas we move the topic over... maybe brainstorm here about the mechanic and integration and in public about the abilities?

Something to also think about:

The roles in other games typically give a hint by the name of what their function is, aka *Builder* lets you build things, Settler lets you settle.

The different alien races in MULE don't really provide any insight to what their role does.  So the game would need to teach that (and have a description of what each role does).

For reference Puerto Rico has 7 roles:

Settler
Builder
Mayor
Craftsman
Trader
Captain
Prospector (does nothing but gain money)

The more I think about this idea... the more I'm unsure.

At the start of the game you are picking who will represent you.  You're being dropped off on a planet to survive, settle and develop it.

Having a consistent avatar imo is important.

Would it be so hard to add advantages and disadvantages to each race? 

Thoughts:

1) Races bonus could be minor -- so it's not that much of a commitment.  It would be more of personal flavor and for the min/max players finding the race that best suits how you like to play.

Pros -- easier to balance, lets people play any race and not be that limited.

Cons -- Boring?  Might still be hard to balance correctly.

2) Races bonus could be major -- Game changing strategies?

Pros -- Depending on which races are being used could alter the game a large amount, which adds re-playability.

Cons -- Race choice might limit how you play the game.  Could distract from all other elements of the game.

3) Race Bonus could start fairly minor, but you could invest in building up said bonus -- this might be easier to balance.

I personally think the computer should no longer play just the Mechtron.  Adding custom AI for each race and then being able to replicate games could help balance the races (Assuming the AI was robust).

-Jara

PS: I'm not against roles per say -- I just don't think they should be tied to races.  Maybe races might have certain bonus to picking certain roles but I think the two should be separated.

Just to add flavor doesnt justify the introduction of abilities and would indeed be either hardly worth it or otherwise unable to balance if each player picked a race for a whole game.

So the roles/abilities should imho be tied to the species and then hired each round.

So to mining smithore you need to have a Bonzoid.
Once you have outfitted a mule with smithore, you might change mule from other of your plots with any species, so you could equip 3 mules with smithore even if you change 1 smithore on a plain next round with energy...

computer AI of course had to play all species then and not merely the Mechtron, as human players would also be able to play mechtron.

I like the "roles" idea of picking a character to use before each development phase.  IMO this would work great like Puerto Rico.  Players should be able to pick a character before each development phase.  That character is then unavailable for the rest of the players for that development turn.  Great idea.

I don't know...

I think you'll quickly get into situations where I just got a land with mountains.  My game plan is to put a mule with smithore on it.  Now you get the Bonzid and I can't equip that plot with the mule type I want.

Where is the fun in that?  It's very very limiting.

The key to the roles in Puerto Rico is that if a player picks the role, Everyone does that action, the role picker just gets a bonus.

Agree with Jaradakar - roles shouldn't be a single access point to an important part of the game; they should make an important part of the game more attractive or more rewarding in some fashion.

In Puerto Rico terms, everyone gets to do everything, but the roles let someone do a certain thing better/cheaper/faster/first.

Well, you cant always do what you want in one round in most boardgames.
So you have to wait and built a strategy over several rounds.
Its very rewarding when it gets finally working or executed.

I could ask: Where is the fun after having got a plot of mountains in doing development at all when its clear you'll get to put smithore on it anyway (provided you have enough food)?

I think the development currently is the weakest phase of original Mule... the original added some non-tactical "excitement" with mule placement on the house and spot a pixel aka Wampus hunting... but thats imho not core to the game...

to me, it's limited choices in boardgames that makes me really excited and anticipating each round...



Not quite, i would argue that the last person to choose land in a Settlers phase could end with something nearly worthless landtile like second sugar or indigo, while the others snatch corn, tobacco or coffee...

Or you cant ship because the ships are full or you cant trade because the trade house is blocked...

So picking a role in PR is _the_ key strategy and ruins / benefits deeply if played out in a certain order... thats why if euqally good players play the game and 1 player is a newbie, he could ruin the whole game by just one wrongly picked role, as frequent PR players could attest.


As for Mule, imho selecting species as a phase in-game should justify the additional time needed to spent picking the roles.
Otherwise it wouldnt matter to the players and could be viewed as a nuisance.
So players would need to anticipate that phase enough.
Maybe we have a specialist (the robot mechtron) that can outfit any mule type as backup but cost 100 on top of the highest bid and we the have the other species with their different abilities.
Maybe have all species be able to outfit food and energy, and only have specialists in smithore/crystite?

Just brainstorming here how something like this could work, as many new (old) players seem to feel species abilities would fit as part of the (original) game.

True in PR if a phase was chosen and activated prior to when you planned for, you could be screwed. 

(All your examples data2008, are good ones of that happening).

But there is a huge difference between getting screwed every round due to super limited role choices or getting screwed every once in a while, due to poor planning on your part (not correctly guessing when a player is going to pick X, Y or Z role).

So overall I still think the parity of the roles is very important as it's less about getting screwed every turn/phase but more about possibility getting less options due to when a role is picked.

For example, if hiring a Leggite let you pick a plot of land giving you first pick and then afterward, everyone else gets to pick a land.  Versus, just the leggite hirer gaining a plot. One is infinitely more powerful than the other.  In PR you may or may not get the plot of land you want, but by always getting a plot of land it keeps you from falling too far behind.

That's interesting.  I've never really see MULE in that light.  I need to think more on it, but you could be totally right....


I like where you're going with this! :-)


This might also be a good way to go...  I'm going to try to come up with an idea for the species and abilities tied to roles and post it soon-ish.

Yes, no doubt thats too powerful!
Getting a land is a special phase which all parties should participate and able to get going, so its probably too powerful to be tied exlusively to an alien/role.

So coming up with adequate, yet _powerful enough_ roles to make the whole specialization worthwhile is the key.

In PR there are weak roles: The Producer for example. Also the roles values change with time: Towards the end, Settler and Major become less favorable.

There is a mechansim in PR to counter this: The money adding to a role not chosen.
In Mule, we would have an even more balancing factor: Money bid on the roles.

So the combination of good and powerful roles in combination with an auction or bidding to hire them could be fun... as always, it would need testing and adjustements and even could turn out the opposite, so for now its all brainstorming how this could work in theory.

Okay so I'm trying to go bigger.   For this exercise lets assume at the start of a round we have a new phase -- Race Phase.

In the race phase every player selects which race they'd like to hire for the round.  In the first round, a player is randomly selected to choose first.

So at the start of each round each player would pick one of the races to represent them that round -- it's a free action but on any given turn, only 1 race could be selected by a player no two players can pick the same race.

I think that by making it free and having it just be a selection would be much faster than doing it via an auction.  Also decoupling it from money lets you keep money for things like actually building mules, buying land and of course just buying/selling in auctions.   I guess I question the need for a money sink.

Mechtron:
Gets first pick first in the next race phase (who to hired), previous order is kept (so if you were 1st before you're now 2nd) players just slide downward in the turn order (think Caylus).

Gollumer:
Queues up an land grant phase.  All players will gain a plot of land -- the hirer gets first pick.

Bonzoid:
Queues up a production phase in which Smithore and Crystite are produced -- hirer gets a bonus to production.

Packer:
Queues up a production phase in which Food and Energy are produced --- hirer gets a bonus to production.

Humanoid:
Queues up an Auction phase -- hirer chooses the order of Auctions.

Spheroid:
Queues up a Development phase -- hirer gets a bonus to time limit.

Flapper:
Grants you good luck at the pub! -- hirer only gets a bonus to cash.

Leggite:
I'd remove this race.  In a 5 player game you'd only want 2 roles/races not chosen, so you want a total of 7 races/roles.

After each player has chosen a role, the phases of the round would be played out based on the order the races were chosen in.  So for example in a 5 player game we have:

1) Mark
2) Aimee
3) Josh
4) Chad
5) Ethan

Mark is randomly chosen as first and he selects Gollumer.
Aimee then picks, Spheriod.
Josh then picks, Packer.
Chad then picks, Bonzoid.
Ethan then picks, Flapper.

For that round we'd see each player controlled as the race they chose -- Player colors would become very very important!!! (I'm still not convinced Races/Roles should be together).

The round would then consist of the following phases, in the following order:

-Land Grand
-Development
-Produce Food & Energy
-Produce Smithore and Crystite
-Ethan gains bonus cash.

In this case no Auctions would happen as no one picked to be a Humanoid.

Next round:

Mark picks Gollumer again.
Aimee picks Packer.
Josh picks Mechtron.
Chad picks Spheriod.
Ethan picks Bonzoid.

So then you'd have the following phases:

-Land grand
-Produce Food & Energy
-Josh gets to pick his role first next round.
-Development
-Produce Smithore and Crystite

I'm also assuming any role not chosen in a give round would give a bonus in cash and each turn it's not chosen that bonus increases.

Anyway just a thought/idea I had...

Alternatively instead of choose auction order (which I fear might take too long) you could have:

Humanoid:
Queues up an Auction phase -- hirer gets a N% Reduction/Bonus in all purchases and sales.

or

Humanoid:
Queues up an Auction phase -- hirer wins all ties on the auction line.

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Anyway any feedback? on this idea overall?

Some of the things I like about it is that in any give round you might not do all phases.  So for example early game you might skip the auction phase for a few rounds.

Not a 100% sure about splitting up the production phase into two parts -- might be better to have just a single role that activates production.

Very interesting idea to tie the phase itself to a character (classic PR mechansim).

Alternatively, all phases get played anyway each round,
but each character picked enabled a powerful ability, so not all options are available for all players within each phase.

Anyone else have an opinion or more ideas here?